Alex's Tech Thoughts

I’ve been thinking about tools I use everyday and wondered how they stacked up to others.

Here is what I use:

1) Twitter (news)

2) Facebook (distribution of my blog and keeping up with friends)

3) LinkedIn (getting updates on who moved jobs, looking up people, connecting with others)

4) Google+ and Skype (google hangouts with Dwolla team for daily meeting and skype for other calls)

5) Google Docs (I rarely use Microsoft Word or Excel- only if I’m in a spot with no internet)

6) Tumblr (post my blog on Tumblr)

7) Gmail and Gchat (to email and chat)

8) Instagram (when I take photos)

9) Foursquare (using Explore to find places around me or to let friends know where I am)

10) Citibank and American Express (check on my finances)

11) Reddit and Hacker News (I’m mostly a lurker, but peruse both each day)

12) Dwolla (I work there and I pay people back with Dwolla)

13) Eventbrite (I typically have an event going on, so I check Eventbrite frequently)

14) Verizon, Time Warner, Con Edison (check my bills almost daily)

15) Games: Angry Birds, Derby Jackpot (Angry Birds played typically in the subway if no internet)

16) Spotify (I listen at my desk and with mobile app- easily worth the $10 a month)

17) Brewster (I have found it to be a much better address book)

18) Dropbox (sharing files and such)

I’m sure I am missing a few, but that is a good high level overview.

What am I missing? What do you use that is awesome and you can’t live without?

Leave it in the comments below.

A friend recently asked me some best practices on LinkedIn. While I’m no expert, I told him I’d write a post about how I use it.

1) To stay connected to business contacts.

Anytime I meet someone I connect with them on LinkedIn. I use Rapportive for gmail to send out the invitation to connect.

2) To distribute my blog post.

I use LinkedIn as one of my distribution points for my blog posts. 

3) To figure out which of my contacts knows someone I am looking to connect with.

If I want to talk to someone at company X, I search LinkedIn for the right person there and then see which mutual connections we have. I usually ask one of those people for an introduction.

4) To see who I know in different locations or industries.

I look at the contacts tab and see who is in the SF filter before I go there. Also if I’m looking for any connections in the fashion or education space. It just helps move the ball forward quicker on things like this.

5) To keep my profile up to date.

I use LinkedIn as my public facing business digital presence. 

It’s only a few things, but I would say I probably use LinkedIn every day and it definitely helps with the effectiveness of being successful at my job.

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be at a payments company, I probably would have laughed at you. You never really know where you’ll be, what opportunities might arise, in the next few years. Because of this idea, I connect with everyone I meet.

What I mean by this is, if there is no obvious and immediate opportunity to work with someone, I still follow up with every new connection and say it was great to meet them and we should stay in touch. I follow that with a Linkedin connection and Bam! we are connected.

About a year ago I connected with a guy who was at a consulting company. We met at a hackathon. Fast-forward to today and he is working for one of the big POS (point of sale) players and I’m at Dwolla. We are starting to work together and it would not be possible if we hadn’t connected a year ago.

These type of opportunities seem to be happening to me often because of this very idea. 

Lastly, I would also make sure you sign up for the email alert Job Change Notifier, it has done wonders for keeping tabs on industry folk.